Eli Broad on Sam Zell's turf

[DeepModem Mom]

L.A. Observed: Broad on Zell's turf
Kevin Roderick

(NOTE: The current owner of the Tribune Company, which includes the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun among many newspapers, is Chicago real estate tycoon Sam "Grave Dancer" Zell.)

I'm hearing that at last night's L. A. Times farewell soiree, the elephant in the room, so to speak, was Eli Broad. The billionaire art patron was a very active participant in last year's bidding for the Tribune (Company) after being turned down in his gambit to acquire the (Los Angeles) Times. Jim Newton, the editor whose resignation prompted last night's party, acknowledged Broad from the microphone, saying something like "uh, can we get you a drink or anything?" I'm told everyone laughed. Just about everyone who chatted with Broad asked if he would please buy the paper (yes, there was a lot of anti-Sam Zell sentiment being spoken.) Broad reportedly quipped to most that "it has to be for sale first," but at least once he mentioned that if the Times were put on the market, he might try to get together a group of buyers. Though, at least one friend says that Broad is relieved that he didn't get Tribune, which has tanked in value under Zell (though not just because of the Zellots.)

Another report: At least one attendee heard Broad quote earnings figures that suggest the Times still makes a healthy profit and would not be a financial burden should civic-minded investors buy it. The same source hears that David Geffen recently rebuffed a Zell overture, saying the paper is no longer worth the $1.7 billion Zell was asking. Says the source, a staffer with connections: "A close friend of Geffen today said that at this point, 'he's so over it.'"

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/07/broad_on_zells_turf.php


L.A. Observed: A large banner proclaiming Zell Hell was draped this morning off the corporate parking garage at the Los Angeles Times building in Downtown. It carries a link to TellZell.com, the website that says it's by an anonymous Times staffer.

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/07/zell_banner_hanging_at_la.php

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Media Bistro: Friday, Jul 25
Zell-otry at the L.A. Times

The InkStained Retch sends us this press release:

Merry pranksters scaled a Los Angeles Times building Thursday to unfurl a three-story high banner protesting news cuts by the paper's owner, real estate billionaire Sam Zell. The banner was hanging from the historic Times building in downtown Los Angeles. It read: "Zell Hell: Take back the Los Angeles Times." A website address on the bottom directed the curious to the mysterious protest site by an anonymous Times employee: www.tellzell.com

"Like many of us, he got in over his head in the mortgage crisis," said one Times employee who participated in the banner drop. "He can't afford what he bought. But instead of selling his house, he's chopping it into pieces."

The banner was the most dramatic in a series of protests that have broken out at the LA Times and across other newspapers owned by Zell, who took over the Tribune Co. at the beginning of this year. Since then, Zell has ordered the firings of more than 300 reporters and other workers at the LA Times and slashed the space available to run stories.

The cutbacks have reduced the amount of news, analysis and in-depth reporting available to readers -- especially important information during an election year. And it has deprived Southern California of a voice.

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/zell_watch/zellotry_at_the_la_times_90134.asp

[meegbear]

1. Grave Dancer?

Please advise.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Maybe someone with more economic knowledge will weigh in, but...

it has to do with buying troubled companies (and all newspapers are), cutting costs to a bare bone, and selling them for one's own profit. The man has had no interest whatsover in newspapers or journalism, and, I would guess, no understanding of the difference to our democratic system between a newspaper company and any other.

I know many have no love for the L.A. Times, but this is, as is shown in these articles, also a job issue. The jobs of hundreds of employees have been lost, and none are secure. And, believe me, these staffers are no fans of Bush.

[Phredicles]

3. Zell's even worse than Tribune Co.,

which I would not have guessed possible. It's very upsetting; LA no longer has a paper of record.